An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines

Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1993. Near Fine condition (only very light shelfwear). The spine is square and flat. Corners are NOT bumped. NO owner's name or bookplate. NOT a library discard. NOT a remainder. Pages are fresh, crisp, clean and unmarked. 1993. Uncommon First Printing of the First Edition. Illustrated with portraits, photographs, family trees, maps, etc. Published in cooperation with Ateneo de Manila University Press. List of chapter notes. Glossary. The following description is quoted from the 1995 reprint: "Winner of the Philippine National Book Award, but now out of print outside of Asia, AN ANARCHY OF FAMILIES: STATE AND FAMILY IN THE PHILIPPINES explores the dynamics of family-based oligarchies and their pervasive influence on Philippine politics. Throughout the 20th century, kinship networks radiating from elite Filipino families have acted as powerful coalitions -- wielding substantial capital, exercising political sway, and sometimes backing it up with paramilitary force. This volume shows how the power of these extended families both derives from, and contributes to, a weak and corrupt state. Exploiting inherited wealth and invoking their family names, provincial and urban elites gain access to political privileges such as low-cost government credit, selective slackening of commercial regulations, licenses for state-regulated enterprises, and freedom from interference in labor disputes. Many of these families then pressure constituents to deliver, in exchange, votes for the officials who conferred the favors sought. The result is often increased factionalism, intensification of violence, and further attenuation of central government. Edited by Alfred W. McCoy, the volume offers nine essays that demonstrate the variety of style and method exhibited by the Filipino political families discussed therein. Their lives, punctuated by the mundane experiences of baptism, marriage, disputes over inheritance, and other events of the domestic sphere, have profoundly affected the life of the nation. From provincial warlords to modern managers, these familial networks have fused politics and business to subvert public institutions and reinforce private accumulation of wealth -- a pattern that continues to the present day. In the years following its publication… AN ANARCHY OF FAMILIES won both praise and criticism. Neither managed to add or subtract significantly from the most essential attribute of the book: It had struck the sciatic nerve of Philippine politics. In effect, the volume had identified and analyzed a sensitive, far-reaching facet whose operation is as central to the functioning of the Philippine polity now as it was then. As reader Patricio Abinales and series editor Katherine Bowie confirm, AN ANARCHY OF FAMILIES has continuing relevance...". First Edition (Uncommon thus). Softcover. Near Fine condition. Illus. by NOT a library discard. x, 542pp. Great Packaging, Fast Shipping.